Unit 7 KBAT

Agglomeration

When businesses group together in the same area to benefit from shared services, workers, and infrastructure.

Ancillary activities

Support services that help main industries, like delivery or repair services.

Break-of-bulk points

Places where goods are transferred between different types of transport (like a port or rail yard).

Brandt Line

A visual divide between the rich North (MDCs) and poor South (LDCs) of the world.

Brownfield

Abandoned or unused industrial land that might be polluted.

Bulk-gaining industry

An industry where the final product weighs more than the raw materials (like bottling drinks).

Bulk-reducing industry

An industry where the final product weighs less than the inputs (like copper mining).

Capital

Money or assets used to start or grow a business.

Commodity dependence

When a country relies heavily on exporting one or a few raw materials.

Comparative advantage

The ability of a country to produce something more efficiently than others.

Complementarity

When two areas each have something the other needs, so they trade.

Conglomerate

A big company made up of smaller companies in different industries.

Core-periphery model

A theory that wealthy countries (core) benefit more than poor ones (periphery).

Deindustrialization

When manufacturing declines and economies shift to services.

Dependency theory

The idea that rich countries keep poor countries dependent and underdeveloped.

Development

The process of improving people’s lives through education, income, and health.

Developed country (MDC)

A country with high income, good health care, and education.

Developing country (LDC)

A country with lower income and poorer health care and education.

Economies of scale

Cost savings that happen when companies produce things in large quantities.

Ecotourism

Environmentally friendly tourism that supports conservation and local communities.

Export processing zone (EPZs)

Special areas where goods can be made for export with fewer regulations.

Fair trade

A system that ensures producers in developing countries get fair prices and working conditions.

Free trade agreement

An agreement between countries to trade goods without tariffs or limits.

Footloose (firm) industry

A business that isn’t tied to a specific location, like software companies.

Fordist vs. Post-Fordist

Fordist: mass production in factories; Post-Fordist: flexible, specialized production.

Foreign direct investment (FDI)

When a company invests money in another country to build or buy businesses.

Fossil fuels

Natural energy sources like coal, oil, and gas.

Gender Inequality Index (GII)

A measure of inequality between men and women in a country.

Greenhouse effect

The warming of Earth caused by gases trapping heat in the atmosphere.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total value of everything made in a country in a year.

Gross National Product (GNP)

GDP plus income earned by citizens abroad.

Gross National Income (GNI)

Similar to GNP, includes income from abroad minus payments to other countries.

Human Development Index (HDI)

A number that ranks countries based on life expectancy, education, and income.

Industrial Revolution

A major change in the 1700s–1800s when machines and factories transformed production.

Infrastructure

Basic systems like roads, electricity, and water that support daily life.

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

An organization that helps countries in financial trouble.

Just-in-time delivery

A method where companies get materials right before they’re needed to reduce storage costs.

Labor-intensive industry

An industry that needs a lot of workers, like farming or clothing.

Literacy rate

The percentage of people who can read and write.

Manufacturing region

An area where many factories and industries are located.

Maquiladora

A factory in Mexico near the U.S. border that assembles goods for export.

Microfinance (microcredit)

Small loans given to people in poor areas to help them start a business.

Multiplier effect

When one economic activity leads to others (like a new factory creating more local jobs).

Natural capital

Resources from nature that provide value, like forests or clean water.

Neo-colonialism

When rich countries control poor ones through business and finance, not military.

New international division of labor

The shift of jobs from developed to developing countries due to globalization.

Newly industrialized countries (NICs)

Countries moving from agriculture to industry, like Brazil or India.

Outsourcing

Sending jobs to other countries to save money.

Periphery

The poorer, less developed part of a region or the world system.

Primary sector

Jobs that involve taking resources from the earth, like farming or mining.

Productivity

How much output a worker or machine produces in a certain time.

Quaternary sector

Jobs in knowledge-based services like tech, research, and education.

Quinary sector

High-level jobs like CEOs, government leaders, and top scientists.

Right-to-work laws

Laws that prevent workers from being forced to join a union.

Rostow’s “Stages of Development”

A model showing how countries move from farming to industrial wealth.

Rust Belt

A U.S. region that lost manufacturing jobs and faced economic decline.

Secondary sector

Jobs that involve making things (manufacturing and industry).

Semi-periphery

Countries that are in-between rich (core) and poor (periphery).

Subsistence economy

An economy where people produce just enough for themselves, not to sell.

Sustainable development

Growing the economy without harming the environment or future generations.

UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

17 global goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and improve lives by 2030.

Tariffs

Taxes on imported goods to protect local industries.

Technopoles (growth poles)

Areas where tech companies and innovation are clustered.

Tertiary sector

Jobs in services like retail, healthcare, and banking.

Transnational corporation

A company that operates in many countries, like Apple or McDonald's.

Uneven development

When some areas grow faster or better than others.

Value added

The increase in value a product gets as it's made or processed.

Vertical integration

When a company controls all steps of production, from raw materials to final sale.

Wallerstein’s World-Systems Theory

A theory that the world is divided into core, semi-periphery, and periphery countries.

Weber’s least-cost theory

A theory about where businesses locate based on minimizing cost (like transport or labor).

World Bank

An international organization that gives loans to help countries develop.

World Trade Organization (WTO)

An organization that promotes free trade and resolves trade disputes between countries.

Trade Deficit

You import more than you export

Trade surplus

You export more than you import

Offshoring

When companies move their operations - their ‘back offices’ - to countries where the costs of doing business are lower